Lawsuit charges stock assault by battery company

A guy who bought stock in A123 Systems sometime over the past year wants his money back, and then some.

In a lawsuit filed yesterday in US District Court in Boston, Scott Heiss charges the Waltham-based company, which makes large lithium batteries for auto manufacturers, knew about problems at a Michigan manufacturing plant well before it went public with them and that mean he bought stock at artificially high prices - the price tumbled after the news came out.

Heiss is seeking to be made lead plaintiff in a class-action suit that seeks lots of money for the alleged damages to the portfolios of investors like him.